PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is set to appear in a new infomercial to encourage more Filipinos to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Malacañang said on Thursday.

In a virtual presser, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the government would continue to produce vaccine infomercials to allay some Filipinos’ concerns over COVID-19 jabs.

“Hindi po tayo titigil. At sa Lunes nga po, iti-take po natin si Presidente dahil siya po ang biggest endorser natin para doon sa bagong infomercial na inihahanda po ng Office of the Presidential Spokesperson,” Roque said.

Roque, however, did not mention the possible date of the release of the infomercial.

Duterte’s expected appearance in the latest infomercial will come after he completed the COVID-19 vaccination.

Duterte was inoculated with his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm on May 3. He received the second jab on July 12, or exactly 70 days after his first shot.

In June, Duterte also appeared in a nearly two-minute commercial, inviting Filipinos to get inoculated with Covid-19 vaccine to help the country beat the ongoing health crisis.

He said public participation is vital to the safe reopening of the Philippine economy.

As of Wednesday, around 10,026,722 of the 14,074,514 individuals have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, while the remaining 4,047,792 have been fully vaccinated, Roque said in the press briefing.

The Social Weather Stations (SWS), in its June 23 to 26 survey, found that around 45 percent of Filipinos are now willing to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

Roque said the Palace is elated by the SWS poll results.

“Unang-una, nagagalak na nga po kami dahil tumaas na po iyang lebel na iyan. Nadoble o natriple yung mga numero na nais at magpabakuna (First and foremost, we are elated that there are more Filipinos. The number of people who want to get vaccinated has doubled or tripled),” he said.

The Philippine government aims to inoculate up to 70 million within 2021 to achieve population protection amid the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Philippine News Agency